Greek opposition says will try to force election

Greek
radical left unified party President Tsipras talks on his mobile
phone as he arrives for a news conference for foreign press
during his visit in RomeThomson
Reuters

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek opposition leader Alexis Tsipras said on
Sunday he will not support any candidate for president in spring
2015, in the hope of forcing a parliamentary election.

The Greek parliament needs 180 votes to select a president but
the government has only 153 seats. It must rely on Tsipras's
Syriza's 71 deputies or the support of fringe parties opposed to
Greece's EU/IMF bailout to elect a president.

"We will not support any candidate. This means that the necessary
parliamentary majority to elect a president will not be there ...
There will have to be new elections," Tsipras said in an
interview with German newspaper Sueedeutsche Zeitung, according
to a transcript sent by his office on Sunday.

(Reporting by Harry Papachristou; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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